Lincoln stood only a few steps into the kitchen with Lily in hand before looking around the room. During his walk in there, he noticed he had walked through a completely dark dining room. The light from the living room shined through the walkway and illuminated the dining room enough to show there was nothing really of interest. He looks around the kitchen, hoping to find something a little bit out of place to give him some kind of comfort-some sense that things are still in drastic need of intervention to no avail. He sighs, looks about and freezes with Lily.
At the sink, there was the back of a curvy woman. The lady looked very like...his mother. The frame, the build along with pink shirt with a white collar and cuffs, and purple pants. He takes his first step and the woman turns around quickly.
"My child!" said the lady sweetly.
Lincoln grows a ghostly white. The woman that stood before him...was Leni. Dressed like his mother stitch by stitch. Leni makes a full turn showing a frontal view. The woman that stood before Lincoln was indeed his sister with the added appeal of looking like his mother. She wore what looked like their mother's attire but also appeared to be of different brands and seemed to lack the make up his mother would often wear. Her hair was cut shorter and she didn't seem to have her trademark sunglasses with her. Another off putting element to how her appearance was how thick Leni's body was. Lincoln looked her up and down and took a long notice on that. She wasn't fat or skinny, but seem to have a more filling frame with a fair set of hips. Along with her appearance, she was wearing a set of generic floral patterned oven mitts.
Lincoln just stares at Leni. Leni cuffed her mitt covered hands toward her chest and stared happily at Lincoln. He was beyond weirded out at this point but knew that since he'll be staying here, there's no point to be bitter. He knows something is up but feels like he won't get anywhere if he doesn't play along. So, though uncomfortable, he flashes her a wide smile.
"H-Hi, Leni…" Lincoln said sheepishly.
Leni walks to Lincoln and holds him close, giving him and Lily a welcoming hug.
"Oh, my child!" said Leni sweetly. "It's so good to have you home again."
Lincoln embraces the hug with guarded optimism while the embrace actually cause Lily to shiver.
"Oh, dear!" said Leni in a motherly fashion towards Lily. "Are you cold?"
Lincoln looked to Lily in his arms who just stared at Leni. She smiles warming at Lily, causing the child to oddly enough crack a smile. Lincoln found this strange considering how openingly hostile she's been to the other sisters. Before long, Lily gave Leni a shy wave, making Leni's smile brighter.
"She's so adorable!" said Leni as she did her best wave while keeping on the oven mitts.
Lincoln is still finding it hard to find something to say. He wanted to know why Leni was dressed like that. However, he was finding a way to bring it up without coming off as rude.
"Hey, Leni-" Lincoln started.
"Oh, dear child…" said Leni softly as she rest her mitten cover hand on his shoulder. "Just call me mom."
Lincoln's body grows cold after Leni said that. The boy started to comb at his neck as if he was struggling to breathe for a second.
"Uh...what was that?" asked Lincoln.
After his statement, a beeping is heard. Leni looks towards the stove and noticed the timer was going off. She turns her attention to the stove, leaving Lincoln to marinate of the title. 'Mom'. The fact she wished to be called that was chilling enough but also not mentally sound. Leni was ditsy before, but even a common airhead like her should know that sounded wrong out loud.
"Mom?" asked Lily to Lincoln as if she was asking for confirmation.
Lincoln didn't know how to respond to Lily so he spaced out so a second before Lily turns her head to the left of them. She pats on Lincoln's cheek and pointed to the table in the kitchen. Lincoln followed her pointing to see a few guest were there with them. It was Lucy and Luna.
Luna was in what looked to be lounge clothes. Black t-shirt with a band name on it, in a font too complex to make out. She had on some dark purple plaid sweatpants, black socks, her normal paper clip earrings, and a set of fingerless gloves, showing her black fingernails. Lucy sat across from Luna. She wore a thick and large turtleneck sweater with a neck fold of the sweater over her mouth. She wore a set of pants that mirrored her socks with the black and white stripe scheme along with some all black sneakers. She also wore a set of fingerless gloves, only her nails were painted white.
Lincoln looks to Leni, who stood by the stove for a moment as she hummed to herself. He turns his head back to the girls at the table and walked over to them, pulling up a chair and sitting down between them. Lincoln drews up the best forced smile he could, hoping to pass it off as something legitimate. Lily, however, made no effort at smiling at these strangers and looked away. Luna gives a calm smile.
"Greets, dear brother" she started. "Welcome back."
Lincoln nods a bit, trying to keep that smile and looking pass how odd it was to hear Luna say something so formal in such a calm manner.
"Thanks, Luna. I-It's gre...well, guess its a comeback, if anything" Lincoln said.
Luna chuckles.
"I get it" she said honestly. "I know things are a tad weird, having to come back to us. But hey-we're better then how we were before."
"Yeeaah…." said Lincoln as he shook his head. "Actually, I'm a little confused."
Luna looks at him calmly.
"About what?" she asked honestly.
Lincoln stares at her with a dumb expression.
"Are...are you serious?" asked Lincoln.
Luna just gave him a lost look. He sighs.
"Okay...I'll dance…" he said before clearing his throat. "Like, what is going on with Lori? When has she been religious? And why are the twins speaking French of all things? Why are there voices and talking crows and-" Lincoln rambled.
"Whoa, whoa…" said Luna, gesturing Lincoln to calm down. "You're seeing things. I mean, talking crows? Voices? What are you talking about?"
Lincoln freezes for a second and remembered that they don't know about his illness. He sighs and pushes it to the side for a moment. He drums up another point.
"Also, why are the twins so jumpy? They seemed...I dunno, sad...scared.." Lincoln said.
*SLAM*
Lincoln jolts and Luna quakes at the loud slamming of the oven door as Leni stood afar, completely straight and not looking at them. She takes a slow breathe and in a cheery, but dulled tone, she speaks.
"The children...seemed unhappy to you, my child?" asked Leni slowly.
Lincoln got silent, thinking he may have said something bad.
"I tried to tell them...to behave while you're here. I know you'd be very unsure about us. I told them to behave…" she resumes.
Lincoln is frightened by sudden shift in tone and looks to Luna. Luna is just staring at Lincoln calmly. Smiling. Lincoln was taken aback by that. Luna turns her head to stare at Leni while Lincoln feels a jolt to his side. Lily pointed to the right. It was Lucy trying to give Lincoln something under the table. Lincoln pegged this as something private and quietly reached under the table to grab it. It was a piece of paper. Lincoln slowly looks down to see what it says.
"Don't make her upset-try to reel it back."
Lincoln slowly looks up at Lucy. She sat there blank.
"Who was it, Lincoln? Was it Lola?" Leni asked in an unsettling calmness.
Lincoln quickly thinks of something.
"Uh, no. I-It's not either of them. They didn't do anything.." Lincoln tried to assure her.
Leni sighs and chuckles a bit.
"My sweet, sweet Lincy…" Leni says.
"Oh, that doesn't sound good at all…" Lincoln thought to himself.
Leni turns and walks over to him at the table. Luna looked away and Lucy looked downward. Lincoln took noticed of their change in view but he knew looking elsewhere would come off as an unwanted tip. He sighs and keeps pushing the narrative he wanted to push.
"No, Leni. I'm serious. It's not their fault…" Lincoln tries to assure her.
Leni rubs his head.
"Are you sure? I can make them behave-" Leni tried to resumed.
"It's fine. I'm just...nervous…" said Lincoln quickly.
Lily hugs onto Lincoln. Leni kneels down next to Lincoln.
"Why are you nervous, dear?" asked Leni.
"U-Uh…" Lincoln said, drumming up a lie.
"Ain't it obvious?" asked Luna.
Leni looks to Luna. Leni sighs.
"Lincoln, you still don't trust us?" asked Leni.
Lincoln groans.
"It's just...things are...very different here...and I'm still very skeptical" Lincoln said.
Lincoln stares at Leni for a bit. Leni pets at Lincoln's long hair and sighs.
"I understand. I know you didn't get the best welcome last time and some of us have done some bad things to you...but I promise-we are changed people. Nice, sweet, changed people." Leni stated.
Lincoln looked around and stared at Luna for a moment. Luna seemed to nod with a smile, making seem like Leni was being honest. Lincoln smiled a bit before turning his sight to Lucy. Lucy was blank and stiff. However, she seemed to be shrugging. Only with her left shoulder. Lincoln slowly crept his eyes to the back doors behind Lucy's chair. He starts holding his sights until the faint voices of screaming and crying is heard within his mind.
"Dear brother?" asked Luna.
Lincoln turns to her.
"Hey, did you hear that?" asked Lincoln, acting a part.
"What?" asked Leni.
"That noise. Sounding like something fell-in the basement" Lincoln said, clearly testing the waters of his gambit.
Leni got tense, as did Luna.
"It...must be the the gas leak down there…" Leni said. "Lisa was doing some kind of…"
"Experiment…" Luna added on.
"And caused a few things to go bad down there. So, it's locked up. Don't try to mess with the basement, okay? Everything you need is up here."
"Okkkkaaaay…" said Lincoln slowly. "But if it's locked up, why is there noises down-"
"Say, Linc!" Luna butts in. "How about you join me tomorrow in picking up Lynn?"
Lincoln's eyes widen. He didn't think he'd be able to go see her. However, he looked at Lily, who seemed rather excited to see Lynn.
"Oh! U-Uh, okay. Sure, I'll ride with you" Lincoln answered.
Leni sighs and looks at Lincoln.
"How about this? It'll be awhile until it's time to eat. Why don't you take Lily upstairs and take a nap? We'll come get you when it's time" Leni suggested.
Lincoln wasn't sure why the sudden change for everything within this conversation. However, after dealing with the weirdness of the twins and weird patchiness of the ones in the kitchen, he would much rather take a nap in the safety of his room.
"Okay. Thanks, Leni-" Lincoln started.
"Call me mom" Leni answered quickly.
Lincoln stops in his talking.
"But, why would I-" he started.
Leni strokes his hair with her over mitt and inhales sharply.
"Call me mom, my child…" Leni nearly commanded.
Before Lincoln can question it, he feels a light tap against his leg. He didn't have to look at her to know it was Lucy for some reason signaling him. He holds Lily close.
"T-Thanks…'mom'..." Lincoln said with a hushed delivery.
Leni quickly hugs him tightly, glad to hear the title coming from him. She gives him a quick peck on the head and returns to the stove. Lincoln hopes out of his chair with Lily. Before he was able to make a break for the doorway, he is approached by Lucy, who hoped off the chair and hugged him. Lincoln found it odd how she never spoke a word to him, but before he can ask her anything about the silence, she shoves her hand into the front of Lincoln's hoodie pocket. A light sound of balled paper is heard in her palm. She quickly does an about face and returned to her seat. Lincoln turns out and walks into the dark dining room and back to the stairs. He starts walking up with Lily before he hears a voice at the bottom.
"Hey" said the voice.
He turns around to see it was Luna.
"Uh...hey..." Lincoln said.
"I know things are different, Lincoln. I know you're confused. But trust me when I say...things will be different but that's okay…" Luna said with a smile.
Lincoln sighs.
"Luna...I feel like you guys are still hiding things from me…" said Lincoln.
Luna sighs and looks away.
"Just….don't go snooping around...just work with us…" said Luna. "We really, really change a lot for you, bro…"
Lincoln sighs and walks up the steps, leaving Luna back down the stairs alone. Lincoln just wanted to be alone with his sister and nothing more. He was already ready to check out of this place, giving all the weirdness already. The basement story didn't add up, everyone is acting too strange and dressed so oddly. Everything has changed indeed, but rather it's for the good is layered under a thick slab of unknown. He drags himself and Lily to the room. He stops at the door to notice something. The music he heard before was gone. However, the boy didn't want to focus on it. He walks into the room and locks it behind him.
Lincoln lays Lily on his bed and kisses her head.
"Just lay down for a few hours, okay?" Lincoln asked softly.
Lily nods and starts to close her eyes.
Lincoln kicks off his shoes and sighs. He digs in his pockets to pull out his wallet, a few sticks of gum, his cellphone and a lighter. Lincoln lifts the back of his hoodie and pulls out an odd object: a gun. A .38 Colt revolver. Snub nose. He sighs and slips the gun between the mattress of his bed tightly while laying against the bed and tried to sleep. As his eyes began to close, he heard a rattling.
He opens his eyes to see the door knob was turning. But because it was locked, it wouldn't properly turn. However, there was a sound-a faint sound of metal grinding against metal. It was a key. Lincoln, growing rather unsure, digs his hand back into the fold of the mattress and grips the handle of the gun and pulls it closely towards him slowly.
"Hello? Who's there?" he asked, noting it as a warning.
There was silence.
The sounds of footsteps are heard walking away from the door and walking down stairs are noted and Lincoln sighs, letting go of the gun handle as he shoves his hands into his pocket. There was a crumbling. He remembered now: Lucy slipped him something. He digs inside of his pocket and pulls out the wadded paper and spread it out in order to read it.
He turns pale and his eyes began to water.
In all caps, the note read in black ink, over and over again was:
DON'T TRUST US.
Lincoln stuffs the paper back into the pocket and shakes on the floor, wide awake and guarding his sister.